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October 2015
Housing
A
lthough the snail pace of
housing delivery has irked the
Minister and caused massive
headaches for developers and stake-
holders, Sisuluhas pickedup the pace
and has not disappointed the sector.
Speaking at the recent Human Settle-
ments Developers and Contractors
Workshop in Johannesburg, Sisulu
said that these mega projects will
roll out over a five to 10 year period.
So far, 77 projects have been iden-
tified, 31 are government initiatives
and the balance of 46 are fromthe pri-
vate sector. Almost 1,3 million houses
will be rolled out, with a projected
development cost of R295 billion.
Sisulu shared that of the govern-
ment’s 31 projects – 11 are in the
planning stages, 20 are being imple-
mented, 23 have been budgeted for
and eight still require funding.
Of the private sector’s projects 15
are still in the planning stages, 31
are currently being implemented,
budgets have been approved for 17
and 29 require additional leveraging
and funding.
Government has already identified
and acquired 24 332 ha, while the pri-
vate sector has earmarked 34 004 ha
for development in Catalytic Projects.
Government has put in place proj-
ect delivery arrangements, starting
with the Memorandum of Under-
standing between theMinister, Mayor
and MEC to oversee the projects and
key strategic operations.
Implementation protocol will
fall under the Director General of
the National Department of Human
Settlements in conjunction with the
municipalities and metros and the
CEO of the Housing Development
Agency (H DA). They will ensure that
the projects are implemented within
the prescribed timelines and within
budget.
Catalytic
Projects
T h e M i n i s t e r o f H uma n
Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu has
announced that anumber of new
Catalytic Projects will be rolled
out to meet government’s 1,5
million housing target by 2019.
Funding and business plan approvals
will be vetted by the provincial gov-
ernment, metro and the H DA.
The Implementing Agent contrac-
tor and principle agent will be the H
DA together with the metro to assist
with beneficiary management and
facilitation.
National, provincial andmunicipal
project deliver will be coordinated by
the H DA.
These projects will be fast tracked
and developers need to indicate
the nature and type of government
support required. The Minister pro-
vided contact numbers for all the key
people in state-owned entities if there
are any problems.
The benefits and incentives in the
Medium Term Strategic Framework
and Master Spatial Plan will include
ring fencing and top slicing of specific
capital grants across sectors such as
the Urban Settlements Development
Grant, Human Settlements Develop-
ment Grant, Municipal Infrastructure
Grant, Integrated transport grant and
national electrification grant (10%
of each grant) to upscale delivery
of Catalytic Projects, as well as the
Development Bank of Southern
Africa’s Capital Grant and Project
preparation.
The National Upgrade Support
Programme and City Support pro-
grammes will be prioritised for
Catalytic Projects.
These Catalytic Projects offer projects
of scale to deliver 10 000 houses and
5 000 serviced stands with a variety
of housing typologies. The Minister
plans to mobilise youth brigades,
create job opportunities, as well as
gearing government investment into
human settlements and to demon-
strate sustainability of these projects
post completion.
She talks of a regionalised ‘War
Room’. a one-stop shop approach to
ensure that these projects are opti-
mised and that her ‘generals’ unblock
delivery problems, identify and miti-
gate risks in the delivery value chain,
provide support to the provinces,
metros, human settlements entities
and private sector developers.
The provinces have been divided
into three regions: Region 1: Gauteng,
North West, Free State; Region 2:
Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpuma-
langa; Region 3: Eastern Cape, West-
ern Cape, Northern Cape. A team
of professionals will assist each Re-
gional Head to focus on the Business
Plan Delivery, Catalytic Programme
Planning and Implementation, Title
Deeds backlog, Informal Settlement
Upgrading and Affordable Housing
delivery. It is an exciting time to be in
the residential sector and one thing
we can bank on is that the Minister
will deliver and utilise her budget
and any other funding that is within
Human Settlements scope.
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